RA 92.0568° · Dec -53.2828° · star
7 more points to reach Common.
HD 42538 is a trash star. It lies about 286.9 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Pic, shines at apparent magnitude 8.21 and has spectral type F7V.
Its spectrum reads F7V — an F-type star — a little hotter, whiter and shorter-lived than the Sun.
Look for HD 42538 in the constellation Pic. At apparent magnitude 8.21, it is an easy target for binoculars.
Like any astronomical target, HD 42538 is best seen from a dark site away from city lights, and when it is above the horizon depends on your latitude and the time of year. The visibility panel above works out tonight's viewing window for your saved location.
HD 42538 scores 8 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the trash tier. Another 7 points would lift it into a rarer tier.
That score comes from 3 science badges — Star, Yellow-white F-type star and Main-sequence star — each earned for a real, measurable property of the object. Rarity on Spacedle is never random: the more remarkable an object's astrophysics, the more badges it collects, the higher it scores, and the rarer it ranks.